Embattled A1+ still off the air
A year ago, on June 17, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) upheld A1+'s claim against the Republic of Armenia and confirmed that the TV Company had been illegally stripped of the air.
The ECtHR confirmed that for six Armenian judicial authorities had made unlawful decisions against A1+ adjudicating the Company's eight suits.
"Actually, a year has passed since then but Armenian authorities haven't met the ECtHR decision which demands that the authorities announce broadcasting tenders and restore A1+'s rights. Whether A1+ will win the tender or not is another matter. Instead, the authorities deliberately passed a law on cancelling all tenders for broadcasting frequencies by 2011. To put it gently, the authorities made a ridiculous decision and sooner or later they will made accountable for it," says A1+'s representative, lawyer Tigran Ter-Yesayan.
To our remark that the authorities think they haven't lost the suit, the court partly upheld A1+'s claim and they have compensated the money indicated in the decision, Tigran Ter-Yesayan said: "They seem to have forgotten that we have posed no material claim in local courts or in the European Court. We simply appealed against a violation of freedom of speech stipulated in Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the ECtHR fully honoured our claim. We are satisfied with the ECtHR decision. The first and foremost task of the Armenian government is to announce a tender and restore the Company's rights."
Note that A1+ has requested the European Court and CoE Committee of Ministers to comment on the execution of the ECtHR decision in Armenia. Tigran Ter-Yesayan is hopeful that the answer will not linger.
